Undervalued Spotlight #424

I’ve been spending waaay too much money buying gifts lately to even think about picking a big expensive book this week so I’d like to keep it light and fun AND leave Santa some much-needed coin in his pocket.

I got the inspiration for this week’s pick from those great Captain Marvel trailers now online. There seems to be some flack over Brie Larson playing the role but I think she’s a great pick, the trailers are awesome and I can’t wait for the movie.

There are a lot of key issues in the whole chronology of this character. Marvel Super-Heroes #13, Captain Marvel (1968 series) #18, Ms. Marvel #1, X-Men #164 (1st Binary) and Avenging Spider-Man #9 are the obvious go-to issues but looking them up online they all seem very realized in their values. Granted, a great movie and a great cinematic future for the character could mean even more room for appreciation for all the above books but I don’t want to get that far ahead of myself.

This week I’d like to feature a little gem that’s lying well below the radar but that is a deserved piece for anyone building a focused collection around the character, this week the Undervalued Spotlight shines on Marvel Team-Up #62.

Marvel Team-Up #62 with its great Gil Kane cover featuring a trifecta of very strong characters that popular just culture can’t get enough of. Spider-Man has always been top shelf and there’s no denying the popularity of the Skrulls as villains, just have a look at the values copies of Fantastic Four #2 (1st appearance of the Skrulls) are getting. Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel looks to be on the cusp of major stardom as well. As I’ve said on this blog countless times, covers matter and this cover delivers.

I noted above that the values those key issues I mentioned are getting are all strong, even run issues of the Ms. Marvel series that launched in 1977 are hot with issues like Ms. Marvel #9, #10 and #11 all getting north of $200 in the 9.8 grade. I use these issues because they were published in September, October and November of 1977, the same time as Marvel Team-Up #62 (October 1977). Today you could pick up a CGC 9.8 copy of Marvel Team-Up #62 for about $125. I’m thinking $125 is a deal, I mean you get the 1st appearance of Ms. Marvel outside her title (Carol Danvers appears in issue #61 as a set up for her headlining role in #62) and you get the benefit of co-headlining with the best name in the business to be attached to – the Amazing Spider-Man – Spidey fans are legion.

The Marvel Team-Up title is a gold mine of undervalued early appearances of new Marvel characters that were given a boost by being allowed to share the stage with Spidey. I love books that are batched up in a price group by the Overstreet Guide, it tells me that the books have not been extrapolated yet and it tells me that there should be plenty of copies out there available on the cheap.

It’s tough slogging these days digging through a dealer’s Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel bins looking for a deal, most of the early stuff now goes up on the wall. Here’s where Marvel Team-Up comes in. You should be able to find Marvel Team-Up #62 in cheapie bins at cons just make sure you pick crisp tight copies that are square to the corner and still carry good gloss. If you are the adventurous type then hunt down a 35 cent price variant, it will bring you that much more scarcity.

The 48th Overstreet price break for this book is $5/$7/$9 in the 8.0/9.0/9.2 grade splits.

6 Comments

No need for long-winded analysis on this one. I am down with the concept. This is another “hobby” book in the sense that there are a lot of copies out there and it isn’t a true key in any sense. However you have the awesome cover trifecta that links Sony and Disney and very much in the movie context (Skrulls) by Gil Kane. (If it were by a lesser artist I would have reservations.) If you have time (I don’t) to jump on this in the next three months that is ideal, because there is asymmetry in the outcomes. If the movie is a hit this is going up; if it isn’t a hit and you have been judicious, you won’t lose much. The hobby part of this is to try to find 9.8s that are priced like 9.4s. I can’t tell the difference in any case, so even if I had time I probably wouldn’t chase this one, and would only think about this if I happened upon a copy.

I don’t think you need to be “the adventurous type” to look for the thirty-five-centers, you need to be the opposite – an incredible grinder. Of course grinding through long boxes is one of the attractions of this peculiar hobby, but I’d rather be looking for some overlooked western with a decapitation panel etc. than scanning thousands of bronze age bin books for a thirty-five cent label. Of course I always have this topic in mind when I see a Star Wars #1, but memorizing the whole list for the wild off chance that I am going to uncover a $300 book is not for me. But no question that a thirty-five-center of this book in any condition would be an exciting find regardless of the value.

Walt…I’ve gotta call you out here. When its all about the cover and its characters, and nothing about interior story and art, Five minutes for short cutting and short changing us. Coal in your stocking for this one buddy.You’ve turned this into a hockey card without the vital stats.